More than 10 years ago, as a physics undergraduate at Stanford University, I fell in love with the way the molecular motors known as polymerases read and write information from and into DNA. Experimental tools like optical tweezers were just emerging, making it possible to manipulate individual biomolecules.

I joined the lab of Nobel laureate Steven Chu, who was pioneering biological applications of such technologies. In his lab, I became fascinated with the prospect of visualizing in real time the single-molecule dynamics of the polymerase motors.